In September 2017, Amazon Prime released the miniseries The Last Tycoon, which is based on the final book F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote but died before he could finish it. It tells the story of Monroe Stahr, who works for and with his mentor Pat Brady at Brady American Pictures as a producer. With the current unstoppable rise of Hitler in Europe, they not only have to please the Nazi’s, but also face their own demons. The Last Tycoon takes you into the early 1930s which was not all glamorous as one would think.
The nine episode long series is a pure rollercoaster of love, betrayal, hope, and financial disaster covered up within the glittering world of movies. The problem is that you can never hold on to the charade for too long without falling over your own words.
First, let me get you a quick overview of the characters.
Monroe Stahr (Matt Bomer)
His real name is Milton Sternberg and he worked in a circus until he was 19 and later was taken under Pat Brady’s wings. He made him his protégé so that one day he could take care of his company. Because of his empathy and charm, he is admired by their employees, women fall in love with him – even the bosses daughter – and people listen to him more as from their actual boss.
Monroe was married to the famous actress Minna Davis, who died 2 years ago in a fire when their house burned down. Since he is Jewish, he has to face unpleasant situations when a representative from the Third Reich comes into their office to approve which movies are allowed to be shown in Germany.
Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer)
A film mogul who founded Brady American Pictures leads his company with a strong hand. Desperate to make the one movie, which will bring him his first Oscar, he is willing to do anything. He does what the Nazi’s want him to do and jeopardises his company to the point where he doesn’t know if the company will exist tomorrow. He is known for betraying his wife Rose on a daily basis with every woman who is willing to. As egotistical as he is, he has moments of kindness. On the one hand, he wants to get rid of the homeless who build their homes just in front of his studios, but on the other, he gave them money. However, this was not enough for one of them and he asked Brady for a job. Since Brady values people who are willing to work, he gave Max Miner, the oldest of three kids, a job as a driver.
Celia Brady (Lily Collins)
Celia is the only child of Pat Brady and his wife. Most of the year she is in a boarding school far away from Hollywood, just like her father wants her to be. Celia is helplessly in love with Monroe and does not hide her feelings for him and if it was not for the fact that she is the boss’s daughter, Monroe would have been even willing to date her. Monroe respects her more as her own father does and when she comes up with an idea for a spy movie “An Enemy Among Us”, which could or could not be about the Nazi’s – just not called by name. He decides to give her a chance as a producer. Of course, Brady is unhappy with this situation, but he agrees to it.
Some things exist just to be beautiful. They don’t have to make any more sense than that.- Monroe Stahr
The Last Tycoon does not focus on only one thing, but explores a wide range of different topics, which are still important in the present. Politics, which is involved in the entertainment business; the people behind the camera, who are risking their lives just to keep up the mirage of a business where everything is just wonderful; and betrayal, because you are desperate to make something out of yourself.
Now if you’re not enticed by the cast, perhaps you need a few reasons!
A Look Into The Past
Racism, back then or now, is a topic that will always accompany us because it seems that sadly we cannot move away from it. In the series, it goes so far that if you only are from another state in the US you are worthless and called out as so.
To do business with Europe, which was already mostly under Hitler’s hand, Brady American has to please the Nazis with their movies. If the story only slightly has the word “Nazi” in it or a character could point in the direction of the Germans, the movie was not allowed to be exported to Europe and therefore the company would not make any money with it on a whole continent. This is the reason why the biopic about Monroe’s wife got binned. In addition, the Nazi representative forces Brady to fire all Jews who are working in their office in Germany.
Safety Comes First… Not
It takes a village to make a movie. From the screenwriters and the director, to the cast. But before anyone can call “action”, the set had to be built and during production, they have to rebuild it. This work is undoubtedly safer today as it was back then, but still hard work which contains risks.
When Celia is invited to a meeting in which the employees are talking about a strike, she sees for the first time that the glamour does not reach everyone who works in this business and the man to whom she was looking up to her whole life is not the hero she thought he would be.
Women At Work
Celia wants to work as a producer and finally gets her chance to prove that she can do this. But she does not reach her goal without taking ten steps back first. As much as her father likes Monroe, he certainly has a problem with his daughter being around him. Because of that Celia works for a little while in the dressing department and sews clothes. This does not stop her, she takes everything as an opportunity to learn and still is focused on her dream.
Inspired by her daughter to be more as just the “wife of”, Rose starts to work in a hospital as a volunteer and takes care of a patient who will have her brain tumour removed.
And then there is Margo Taft, the most beloved actress of her time, who wants to be seen not as an object but equal to her male colleagues. She shocks with a certain demand she ask every director before agreeing to a new project which make them do.
Unrequited Love
What would a story be without at least one broken heart? In that department The Last Tycoon has quite a lot to show you.
We have Brady, who loves his wife, but cannot stop cheating on her at the same time. Then we have Rose, who is cheating on his husband with a specific someone. Monroe still grieves the loss of wife, but falls in love with Kathleen, a waitress in one of the restaurants on the studio site. And then we have Celia, who will love Monroe forever, but also starts to explore her own sexuality and starts to date Max Miner.
Under Pressure
When the production loses its investor, then the only thing you can do is close it and move on. Well, but what if you lose them all and you have to close your whole company? Brady has to face this situation and he does so poorly. Before he asks the Germans for help, he asks his rival, Louise Meyer to invest in the company who does not do it without demanding something for his benefit. Nevertheless, he jeopardises everything and everyone. In addition, Brady just cannot live with the fact that it may be time to step back and let the younger people take over.
Monroe is working so hard to keep the company alive in his own ways and he works so hard that in the end, he may have succeeded but he has no one to share it with.
Does Everyone Have A Secret?
The cherry on top if you want to call it that, is that it seems that not many are honest to each other. Monroe’s girlfriend Kathleen is not the person he thinks she is and this will break his heart quite literally and will bring him great trouble in his future. But Monroe has his own cross to bear. He confesses that he has a heart condition and does not know how bad it really is, he only refers to it as having not much time left. When he told Minna about it, who was relying on him more as everyone knew, she did not took it good, which started the butterfly effect of her sad death.
Monroe: When will you take me seriously Celia? I can help you. I have ideas.
Celia: I take you very seriously. You made a great movie.
Monroe: Maybe. We won’t know that for years and years.
Celia: Really?
Monroe: How can we know what will last until the end?
Celia: I love you, Monroe. Everybody does. I wish it were enough for you.
Monroe: Me too.
The Last Tycoon succeeds because of Matt Bomer, who carries most of the story on his character’s very capable shoulders. For Monroe, movies are more than just something you watch when you have time. “Pictures like this matter when you have nothing else”, and this is the real plot. He had nothing; he now has no love in his life. He flies in an orchestra from Vienna for the soundtrack of his latest movie and offers them to stay in the USA and not return to Europe were war will begin soon. He cares for Celia deeply and arranges everything so that her movie idea will see the light of day.
I like people and I like them to like me, but I keep my heart where God put it; on the inside.
The chemistry between Lily Collins and Matt Bomer will whisk you away and at some point, you will wish to be there in the 1930’s with then and want your stay to be longer than just 9 episodes. The Last Tycoon warms my heart completely.
